acrylic, gesso, cement, plaster, GoogleEarth transfer print on textiles and canvas, graphite, recycled fabrics and threads.
155 x 125 cm
2019-2020



This painting is another from my ongoing series working with GoogleEarth Screenshots to make 2D patchwork tapestries and paintings. The screenshot is from a Desert in Egypt where a glitch in the satellite image depicts multiple times of day and year overlapped in one topography. I am interested in the mechanical error in relation to the dependence humans have on such technology. Questioning the reliability and accuracy of this digital representation of a desert landscape, I paint a layer in addiction to the glitch of what could hypothetically be found between the digital layers of error.

SiO2 + CaO

180 x 145 cm
Photo transfer print on canvas
2018, Leipzig

Image from Google Earth Screen Shot. A River In China.

Google Earth Series: Carving

A series that deconstructs the relationship between man and houseplant. The function of #dysfunctionality in this series of sculptures represents my own observation of the irony and harm that is happening between humans and plants in the modern world. The #houseplant is a symbol of nature being used as capital to decorate the #interior of #houses. Houses are built and have been used for centuries to protect #humans from nature. With these works I try to reassess this dichotomy in an era of #environmental crisis.

Due to the #pandemic that affects all of us at the moment, it is obvious that we are closer than ever to our houseplants. It is important to remember that, just like you as a human being, they do not need to be over watered. Please coexist appropriately with your #plants in these times of isolation and social distance. Talk to them, sing to them, dance with them, but do not water them irrationally or they will die.

Please, Don't Over Water Your Plants!

Synthetic rope and ceramic hooks
Hand woven and burned
L: 350 cm W: 56 cm
2017

Building Destruction visualizes a timeline of burning and destruction. I wove the 350 cm long piece by hand and once it was finished, I set it on fire, melting and destroying the labour I had spent. The performative metaphor of effort and destruction in this work represents the efforts and exhaustion happening in making this world we call home. This work questions the labour and damage woven into our ecology and visually mentions that there is not much fabric left before the whole thing is destroyed. 

Building Destruction

View Project History
100 x 67 cm 
photography transfer prints on canvas, acrylic, gesso, graphite, machine and hand sewn.
2020


Using images from vacations in the forest and a 3D model of a mountain range, this work is dissecting how technology manipulates and adds layers of experience to our understanding and reality of nature. "View project history" refers to digital photography the editing process when you see the list of changes made to the image. With this in mind, I'm wondering what the long list of the human footprint would look like amongst the information our landscapes burden.⁠

View Project History

UNENDLICH // ein:druck aus:druck

Site-Specific Installation in Outdoor Hut (300 x 350 x 300 cm) + Artist Talk
Materials: Graphic Print on Polyester (300 x 340 cm), Graphic Print on Polyester (300 x 150 cm), Chains, PET Plastic, Landscaping Frames, Found Foliage, Found Stones, Found Shells, Flower Pots, Bands, Hooks.

From the 4. - 12. September 2020 I participated in an event of workshops and exhibitions from FAIL Institute Leipzig, called UNENDLICH.
My project in Thallwitz was a site specific investigation comparing the experiences one can digitally and physically have in a space.
Before visiting Thallwitz, I became familiar with the satellite documented landscape of the village on GoogleEarth and collected screenshots of the surroundings I found interesting. Before making my installation, I visited Thallwitz about 3 times, walking around the village, talking with people who lived there, and taking photographs. The content in this installation, the digital collages, the found foliage, and collected material related to gardens and landscape design are all inspired by the dichotomy of the digital and physical experience of being in that place.

The subject matter of landscape, drought, and the dried up Lossa River were heavily inspiring for the installation and printed fabrics. Based on my GoogleEarth experience, I was expecting a river to flow through the village of Thallwitz and a Castle Garden with ponds. The reality is, that a potato farm north of the village dried out all the water in the ground in 2017 and the village has since then been dry. The landscape has changed, the river is gone, the ponds are grown over with weeds, and the surrounding farms seem to struggle for water supply. 'It's an economical power game', one villager said to me, 'the potato farm has too much power and money involved in their company, neither Sachsen nor smaller local administrators will change anything to give us our river back'.

I made a 3D scan of the sculpture garden of the castle where the Ponds have dried up and printed it on polyester at 300 x 340 cm. This textile piece functions as a backdrop inside the hut. The objects hanging and standing in front of the backdrop have a dialogue with the composition and structures of the sculpture garden 3D scan. This overlapping of physical and digital content acts as a reflection on my personal experiences of the village on digital and physical levels. The flag on the outside of the hut is a collage of the Lossa River sign and surroundings abstractly connected with screenshots of GoogleEarth.

During the weeks of the installation and my artist talk, I explained the purpose of my installation and invited the community to engage in a discourse with me about landscape and how humans exist within their surroundings. I asked the community if they were able to recognise their village in my installation. The different perceptions of landscape and the difficulties in relating to our environment on a level of equality were topics that often came into conversation. Thank you to all the people of the village who took time to talk with me about the village. Thank you FAIL Institute for supporting my project and all the amazing cooperation.

Thallwitz UNENDLICH Exhibition - Site Specific Project

Hand stitched thread and fabric.
173 x58 cm
2017


Building A Mountain

No Room For A Hass Avodaco Tree

160 x 116 cm
photo transfer on canvas, fabrics, threads, acrylic paint, charcoal, gloss mediums
2019, Leipzig


[photo courtesy Gustav Franz]

No Room For A Haas Avocado Tree

Andrea Garcia Vasquez Solo exhibition: Palms & Our Hands
February 10 - March 8 2020
Westside Gallery - Franz Flemming Str. 9. Leipzig, Germany
Kleindienst Gallery

This solo exhibition, which was also my final exam from the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig, is made up of visual explorations of human [with, and, or] in environment. These works are a selection from 2018 until 2020 that represent my evolution and experimentation with the subject through different mediums including: printmaking, quilting, painting, photography, sculpture, welding, ceramics, and video works.

Symbols fade in and out of each work throughout the gallery space, connecting and continuing dialogue between each piece such as: Monstera Deliciosa Plants, Google Earth screenshots, water, and interior architecture.

The title "Palms And Our Hands" references the typical phrase regarding ownership and control "I had it in the palm of my hand". The word-play functions to point to the palm as a member of the human body as well as a member of a plant body. It is my own poetic expression to suggest the complexity between plant, human, and land bodies that encompass the themes and narratives within the exhibition.


Images shot by: Gustav Franz

Solo Exhibition: Palms & Our Hands

Synthetic ropes, soil from my failed garden, and ceramic hooks.
108 x 64 cm
2020, Leipzig

Something About A Failed Bag Garden

92 x 50 x 6 cm
silicone, soil from my failed garden, PET plastic, plastic beads, mosquito net, plaster, rusted water, banana leaf, thread, acrylic, gloss medium, hooks, nuts and bolts.
2020

Reworking The Makeup Of Geological Strata signifies a re-representing of all that which contributes to the actual ecological infrastructure. The materials in this piece are symbolic of different connections, abuse, and elements within the human-environment relationship, and are deconstructed to transparently confront these topics influenced by my textile and quilting background.

Reworking The Makeup Of Geological Strata

UV Print of cell phone screen grabs on wood, steel hangers, terra cotta ceramics
30 x 60 cm or 30 x 50 cm
2020

Series of objects and photographs investigating the connection between bodies of water, bodies of human, and bodies of land.

Bodies Made of Water

195 x 145 cm

Assorted fabrics, canvas, photo transfer print, sewing machine thread, silk thread, found conduit pipe, soil, stones, plaster, water, graphite.

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Andrea Garcia Vasquez